Andrew Twiss Lakeside Year: Junior Sport: Basketball Position: Post

If the opening weekend of the season is any indication, Andrew Twiss has made a smooth transition to life at Lakeside High School.

Although Twiss started last year as a sophomore at Hudson’s Bay High in Vancouver, Wash., he was just another kid among 1,600 students.

Lakeside is 10 times smaller than the Vancouver school. Twiss, at 6-foot-5, is the big kid on campus.

He can’t be missed, and he won’t be missed by opponents, either. In the Knights’ opener against Troy, Mont., Twiss scored a game-high 23 points and hauled down eight rebounds in a 67-50 win. He also had four assists and two blocked shots.

He followed that with 22 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks in a 60-38 spanking of Genesee.

The soft-shooting Twiss made 19 of 32 shots, and several of his misses were on the mark but rolled out. He hopes to average 16-20 points and 10-12 rebounds per game.

“He’s probably the best player I’ve coached,” said Lakeside coach Greg Stutzman. “He has size, shooting touch, post moves and can play inside or outside.”

Teams will find Twiss most dangerous in halfcourt sets, but he’s also adapted to the Knights’ uptempo attack.

“He’s caught on to our offense really well and he runs the court well,” Stutzman said.

It was evident as Twiss watched video of the opening-weekend games during a free moment in school Tuesday.

“I really like it here. It’s a good team and a good bunch of guys,” Twiss said. “We have good chemistry.”

Twiss averaged 13 points and four rebounds as a starter at Hudson’s Bay last year. His team finished 8-12 and didn’t make the state playoffs.

Twiss moved to Plummer in the summer when his father took a regional position as director of Native American ministries with the International Bible Society, based in Colorado.

He joined a team that lost just one starter off a state runner-up lineup. Making the state playoffs won’t be enough for Twiss and his teammates.

“I think we can go all the way if we just don’t let the stuff in the newspaper go to our heads and don’t get cocky,” Twiss said.